According to The Paper, the case of Zhang Zhengbo, dubbed by domestic media as the "Chinese version of Breaking Bad," was retried in December 2024. He was convicted of crimes related to smuggling, trafficking, transporting, and manufacturing drugs. The verdict was changed to life imprisonment for Yang Chaohui, 15 years for Zhang Zhengbo, and the original sentences of 8 years for Feng Jing and Bao Junxi were upheld.[^1]
China has long been known for its strict crackdown on drug crimes. Article 347 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China states: "Anyone who sells, transports, or manufactures more than one kilogram of opium, or more than 50 grams of heroin or methamphetamine (ice), or other large quantities of drugs, shall be sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty, and shall also be subject to confiscation of property."[^2] According to case reports, in just from January 2014 to June 2015, the drugs sold by these four individuals amounted to as much as 100 kg. Under such circumstances, only one of these drug traffickers received a life sentence, while the others received lighter punishments, which is indeed surprising.
Moreover, the development of this case is even more embarrassing. In 2005, Zhang Zhengbo, an associate professor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, co-founded Wuhan Kaimen Chemical Co., Ltd. with his university classmate Yang Chaohui. The company mainly engaged in the research, manufacturing, and sales of chemical products. Its main products included "3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone," "2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenylethylamine," and "4-methylmethcathinone," among others.[^3] In fact, they produced what is called synthetic drugs—new types of narcotics—and the company was essentially a drug manufacturing and trafficking enterprise.
In November 2014, Wuhan Customs at the airport seized a package from Kaimen Company containing white crystalline "3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone." By June 2015, Wuhan Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, together with Hubei Public Security Narcotics Control Department, successfully cracked the case of Zhang Zhengbo and others involved in drug manufacturing and trafficking, confirming that from January 2014 to June 2015, Zhang Zhengbo, along with Yang Chaohui, Feng Jing, Bao Junxi, and others, produced and trafficked over 110 kilograms of controlled psychotropic substances. In March 2017, Wuhan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yang Chaohui to death with a reprieve, Zhang Zhengbo to life imprisonment, and Feng Jing and Bao Junxi to 13 and 15 years in prison respectively, for crimes of smuggling, trafficking, transporting, and manufacturing drugs. Feng Jing was responsible for collecting payments, issuing production orders, purchasing raw materials, packaging, shipping, and courier tracking, while Bao Junxi was responsible for developing new products, improving production processes, and guiding workers.[^4]
According to Article 347 of the Criminal Law, regardless of the quantity, smuggling, trafficking, transporting, and manufacturing drugs should be criminally prosecuted. For more than 1 kilogram of opium, 50 grams of heroin or methamphetamine, or other large quantities of drugs, or involvement in organized international drug trafficking, the penalty is fifteen years' imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty, with confiscation of property. The judgment on drug quantity is clarified in the Supreme People's Court's 2016 interpretation, which states that "more than 200 grams of methylenedioxymethcathinone" qualifies as "large quantities of other drugs."[^5] In the case of Zhang Zhengbo and others, during just one and a half years from January 2014 to June 2015, the amount of drugs (a category of psychotropic substances) produced and sold exceeded 100 kilograms—more than 500 times the standard. This case is undoubtedly clear evidence of guilt, with definitive crimes, yet no death sentence was handed down. Similar cases show that illegal drug transportation activities involving over 20 kilograms, such as Yang Gaya in 2021 in Panzhihua, Sichuan, were sentenced to death.[^6] In 2020, Zhu Hao, who transported 2,063.99 grams of heroin, was sentenced to life imprisonment.[^7] In 2010, a Japanese drug dealer caught selling 3 kg of drugs in Guangzhou was also sentenced to death.[^8] On December 31, 2014, Qingdao Intermediate Court sentenced four drug traffickers to death for selling methamphetamine and other drugs, with each having sold about 10 kg.[^9]
The initial sentence was already relatively lenient, but subsequent developments were even more astonishing. In April 2018, Hubei Higher People's Court remanded the case for retrial due to "unclear facts and insufficient evidence." In June 2019, Wuhan Intermediate Court retried and sentenced Yang Chaohui to life imprisonment, Zhang Zhengbo to 15 years, and Bao Junxi and Feng Jing to 13 and 10 years respectively. Although these sentences were lighter than previous ones, Hubei Higher Court was still dissatisfied. In May 2023, after the second trial, the court adopted the defense opinions of the defendants and reclassified the crimes from drug trafficking to illegal business operations, sentencing Yang Chaohui to 13 years, Zhang Zhengbo to 11 years, and Bao Junxi and Feng Jing to 8 years each. Not only were the sentences reduced, but even the charges were changed, with the explanation from Hubei Higher People's Court being as follows.[^10]
The drugs illegally manufactured and sold by Wuhan Kaimen Company are classified as Category I psychotropic substances under national control. Psychotropic substances have dual attributes: whether circulated through legal channels or illegal channels, as long as they are used normally by patients to exert therapeutic effects, they are considered medicines; only when they are decontrolled and abused by drug users do they qualify as drugs. Therefore, psychotropic substances listed in the “Catalogue of Psychotropic Substances” do not necessarily equate to drugs.
Although investigation agencies retrieved emails between Yang Chaohui and some overseas buyers, the content of these emails cannot prove the identity of overseas buyers, nor confirm whether their purchase of psychotropic substances was for medical purposes or for entering the drug market. The evidence on record is insufficient to prove that Wuhan Kaimen Company and Yang Chaohui intentionally sold controlled psychotropic substances as substitutes for drugs, nor that the company’s sales of psychotropic substances entered the drug market.
Such judgments based on whether the act causes harm to determine whether it constitutes drug trafficking are truly unheard of. If this logic were applied, opium could still be used for medical treatment, and British traders who sold opium to China in the past could not be called drug traffickers—they merely sold opium to Chinese distributors, and what those distributors did afterward was "beyond their guarantee." The law judges based on objective behaviors. The production and sale of over hundreds of kilograms of products listed as prohibited, which after use inevitably cause drug reactions, are clear evidence of crime. The purpose is very obvious: to profit from selling these psychotropic drugs. However, the Chinese court has once flexibly interpreted the law according to its own will—initially applying the minimum penalty, and later even changing the established charges. The reason for this is closely related to the identity of the criminals.
Zhang Zhengbo, as an associate professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, not only undertook almost all organic chemistry teaching at the university, authored numerous textbooks, but also led and participated in multiple national natural science foundation projects, provincial projects, university projects, and horizontal research. His main research directions include ionic liquids and polyionic liquids synthesis and applications (such as CO2 absorption), solid catalysts, and solid electrolyte materials. He has published about 20 articles in important journals domestically and internationally, obtained 7 Chinese invention patents, 1 international patent, and 1 scientific achievement.[^11] These accomplishments demonstrate that he is not an ordinary scholar but one of the emerging academic elites. His research topics are also closely related to new energy vehicle batteries. For such bourgeois academic elites, the government of the so-called "Chinese revisionist" regime naturally seeks to protect him at all costs. Yang Chaohui, as a member of the bourgeoisie, has also been protected by this regime.
The second-instance verdict was excessively blatant, causing a huge public outcry. Facing pressure from the masses, the so-called "Chinese revisionist" government had to re-issue the verdict: reclassifying the crimes as illegal business operations, sentencing Yang Chaohui to life imprisonment, Zhang Zhengbo to 15 years, and maintaining the original 8-year sentences for Feng Jing and Bao Junxi. The regime's media further exaggerated, claiming that this re-judgment "demonstrates our country's consistent stance and advocacy in cracking down on drugs," effectively intimidating drug-related crimes. However, the final verdict was even lighter than the initial 2017 sentence. Where is the evidence of a consistent stance and advocacy in drug prohibition? Since the case was solved in 2015, it took nearly ten years for the final judgment, and even the charges were changed—what signals does this send? The real message conveyed is that the bourgeoisie, regardless of their crimes, will only be sentenced with the lightest penalties. It merely shows that the so-called "Chinese revisionist" regime habitually manipulates the law at will.
